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News and opinion for gays, lesbians and civilized others
mneapolis, MN 55403
Sixth Year 126th Issue October 7, 1985 10,000 Copies
Subscriptions $15.00 year stapled, $20.00 enveloped
AIDS Experts convene in Minneapolis
Measures from celibacy to toilet precautions espoused
Eric Engstrom, acting director of the Minnesota AIDS Project, met
the press during the convention.
by Tim Camobell
The American Society foi
Microbiology convened at the
Minneapolis Convention Center
September 29 through October
2. for the 25th Annual Inter-
science Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and
Chemotherapy. The convention
brought to town most of the
nation's top experts on AIDS, a
virus infection and contagious
disease which has been
dominating the field of
microbiology for about five years
now.
Over 1,200 papers on all
aspects of microbiology were
prsented. Scores of them
touched on AIDS. Several symposiums dealt exclusively with
AIDS.
Some of the more prominent
national experts on AIDS who
were in town included Dr. Paul
Volberding from the AIDS Unit
San Francisco General Hospital,
Dr. Merle Sande from San Francisco General Hospital, and Dr.
Donna Mildoan, director of Beth
Israel Hospital in New York City
which has treated more AIDS
patients than any other facility in
the world.
The chief headline-grabber at
the conference was an
announcement by Burroughs-
Wellcome Company of a new
drug, azidothymidine (AZT)
which seems to promise suppressive potential for the HTLV-
III virus and which acts in such a
way as to have hope of few toxic
effects on the patient.
Dr. Frank Rhame, director of
infectious disease control at the
University of Minnesota
Hospitals greeted the Burroughs-
Wellcome announcement with
guarded hope predicting that the
new drug may suppress the
HTLV-III virus throughout the
body except in the brain. He
speculates that the drug will not
be able to penetrate the brain and
stop the viruses that find their way
there.
Needle stick transmission
Papers were also presented
that pointed to two "probable
cases of HTLV-III transmission
by needle sticks in hospital settings. The medical profession has
long come to accept needle sticks
as an occupational hazard probably as irrepressible as sex. The
seriousness of the AIDS infection
is causing many health professionals to propose drastic new
measures to stop needle sticks.
Heterosexual transmission
Important papers were also
presented that dealt with
heterosexual tranmission of the
HTLV-III virus. Medical
authorities long suspected or
hoped that the tranmission of the
virus by heterosexual contact
might be less likely than by anal
contact as in gay sex.
Studies in Haiti show,
however, that 36 percent of the
women in Haiti are now infected
with the virus as opposed to only
14 percent back in 1982. Other
recent studies" indicate that 66
and 32 percent of African female
prostitutes, depending on socioeconomic class, tested HTLV-III
sero-positive.
There was previous speculation that secretions in the vagina
might kill virus that remained
alive in the anal cavity. That
hypothesis now seems unlikely,
and some gay observers are
snickering at the subjectivity of
the medical profession with its
heterosexual biases.
Household
non-transmission
Comforting data was provided
by a Bronx study by Dr. Martha
Rogers of the households of 101
AIDS patients over a three
month period.
The persons living with these
patients (some sharing tooth
brushes, razors, cups, towels,
baths and showers, some kissing
and eating together) were tested
for the HTLV-III virus.
Only one household member,
the infant child of a intravenus
drug user tested positive. That
child has been sick since birth and
is now believed to have caught
the virus in the uterus.
None of the other household
members tested postive. This
probably confirms the theory that
AIDS and HTLV-III are not
transmitted by ordinary household contact.
■ (■...
AIDS Symposium
Perhaps the best attended
symposium of the conference
was an overview of AIDS and
strategies for stopping the spread
of the disease presented by officials from the CDC October 2.
The Convention Center Arena
was packed beyond planned
capacity for four successive slide
lectures. Several .thousand
medical experts from all over the
country were asidously taking
notes and asking both inquisitive
and hostile questions of the
panelists.
Dr. Paul Volderding explained
the functioning of the AIDS Unit
at San Francisco General Hospital and its wholistic approach to
caring for the AIDS patient in a
context of community cooperation. He spoke highly of the
cooperation the hospital gets
from the gay community and of
Shanti House, a gay operated
support service for AIDS
patients.
Unlike some of the east coast
doctors, Volberding referred to
gay patients as gays rather than
as homosexuals. Most of the
speakers at the symposium also
used the word "gay."
"In a time when the medical
profession was becoming more
and more specialized, AIDS has
forced us to become cross-
disciplinary. The spectrum of infections the AIDS patients come
down with force this broadening
of disciplines. Specialized treatment simply won't work with
AIDS," Volberding explained.
San Francisco General Hospital is the only hospital in the
country with a special AIDS unit.
Not Spreading Disease
Perhaps the most controversial part of the symposium was
the material related to dangers of
spreading the disease. Experts
from San Francisco defended the
right of surgeons with pre-AIDS
to work in operating rooms. This
clearly chagrined many in the
audience.
The tone of the suggestions at
the AIDS symposium for sexual
behavior was clearly that of
heterosexuals talking among
themselves about gay men. The
advice was rather smuggly,
"Don't do it with high risk people." (Not very consoling to this
high risk reporter.) Condoms
were suggested with the caveat
that they are not always suc-
Dr. Paul Volderding of San Francisco
General Hospital praised gay community response to the AIDS crisis.
cessful. No further explanation
was offered.
Questions and comments
from the audience indicated that
medical professionals are having
a harder time dealing with large
groups of patients who have
* AIDS through intravenous drug
use than with their gay patients.
The socialization of the gays
seems to be more acceptable to
the medical professionals. One
doctor complained that the gay
community was not being very
helpful with theintravenous drug
using patients.
Toilet precautions for
hospitals and gay
restrooms?
Dr. Don Armstrong of Sloan-
Kettering Hospitals in New York
City proposed during the symposium that his hospital is using
"enteric precautions" with AIDS
patients. This means that the
patients' urine and bowel excretions are treated as possibly
lethal, like the blood of AIDS
patients is.
According to Dr. Rhame, a
local expert on infectious disease
control, Sloan-Kettering is the
(continued on page 13)
Politicians cut $100,000 asked
for the Minnesota AIDS Project
The Legislative Advisory
Commission of the State of Minnesota which appropriates emergency funds nearly halved a request for emergency funding to
prevent AIDS presented by the
Health Department October 3.
The original Health Department request was for $510,000.
Commission member Jay Kied-
rowski cut that back to $397,000
before he presented the request
to the assembled commission.
Resistance to the allocation came
from both DFL Senator Gerald
Willet of Park Rapids and IR
Respresentative William Schrei-
ber of Brooklyn Park.
Schreiber particularly objected
to the $100,000 ear-marked for
the Minnesota AIDS Project
which has been trying to provide
support services for AIDS patients and to educate gay and
bisexual men to the urgency ot
safer sex practices as a way of
stemming the spread of AIDS.
The commission buckled into
those concerns and deleted the
$100,000 for the Minnesota
AIDS Project then appropriated
just over $297,000 for other
aspects of a program to prevent
AIDS spread that are controlled
by the straight community.
The same commission voted
to pay one attorney $ 112,000 for
an investiqation.

tfr \
News and opinion for gays, lesbians and civilized others
mneapolis, MN 55403
Sixth Year 126th Issue October 7, 1985 10,000 Copies
Subscriptions $15.00 year stapled, $20.00 enveloped
AIDS Experts convene in Minneapolis
Measures from celibacy to toilet precautions espoused
Eric Engstrom, acting director of the Minnesota AIDS Project, met
the press during the convention.
by Tim Camobell
The American Society foi
Microbiology convened at the
Minneapolis Convention Center
September 29 through October
2. for the 25th Annual Inter-
science Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and
Chemotherapy. The convention
brought to town most of the
nation's top experts on AIDS, a
virus infection and contagious
disease which has been
dominating the field of
microbiology for about five years
now.
Over 1,200 papers on all
aspects of microbiology were
prsented. Scores of them
touched on AIDS. Several symposiums dealt exclusively with
AIDS.
Some of the more prominent
national experts on AIDS who
were in town included Dr. Paul
Volberding from the AIDS Unit
San Francisco General Hospital,
Dr. Merle Sande from San Francisco General Hospital, and Dr.
Donna Mildoan, director of Beth
Israel Hospital in New York City
which has treated more AIDS
patients than any other facility in
the world.
The chief headline-grabber at
the conference was an
announcement by Burroughs-
Wellcome Company of a new
drug, azidothymidine (AZT)
which seems to promise suppressive potential for the HTLV-
III virus and which acts in such a
way as to have hope of few toxic
effects on the patient.
Dr. Frank Rhame, director of
infectious disease control at the
University of Minnesota
Hospitals greeted the Burroughs-
Wellcome announcement with
guarded hope predicting that the
new drug may suppress the
HTLV-III virus throughout the
body except in the brain. He
speculates that the drug will not
be able to penetrate the brain and
stop the viruses that find their way
there.
Needle stick transmission
Papers were also presented
that pointed to two "probable
cases of HTLV-III transmission
by needle sticks in hospital settings. The medical profession has
long come to accept needle sticks
as an occupational hazard probably as irrepressible as sex. The
seriousness of the AIDS infection
is causing many health professionals to propose drastic new
measures to stop needle sticks.
Heterosexual transmission
Important papers were also
presented that dealt with
heterosexual tranmission of the
HTLV-III virus. Medical
authorities long suspected or
hoped that the tranmission of the
virus by heterosexual contact
might be less likely than by anal
contact as in gay sex.
Studies in Haiti show,
however, that 36 percent of the
women in Haiti are now infected
with the virus as opposed to only
14 percent back in 1982. Other
recent studies" indicate that 66
and 32 percent of African female
prostitutes, depending on socioeconomic class, tested HTLV-III
sero-positive.
There was previous speculation that secretions in the vagina
might kill virus that remained
alive in the anal cavity. That
hypothesis now seems unlikely,
and some gay observers are
snickering at the subjectivity of
the medical profession with its
heterosexual biases.
Household
non-transmission
Comforting data was provided
by a Bronx study by Dr. Martha
Rogers of the households of 101
AIDS patients over a three
month period.
The persons living with these
patients (some sharing tooth
brushes, razors, cups, towels,
baths and showers, some kissing
and eating together) were tested
for the HTLV-III virus.
Only one household member,
the infant child of a intravenus
drug user tested positive. That
child has been sick since birth and
is now believed to have caught
the virus in the uterus.
None of the other household
members tested postive. This
probably confirms the theory that
AIDS and HTLV-III are not
transmitted by ordinary household contact.
■ (■...
AIDS Symposium
Perhaps the best attended
symposium of the conference
was an overview of AIDS and
strategies for stopping the spread
of the disease presented by officials from the CDC October 2.
The Convention Center Arena
was packed beyond planned
capacity for four successive slide
lectures. Several .thousand
medical experts from all over the
country were asidously taking
notes and asking both inquisitive
and hostile questions of the
panelists.
Dr. Paul Volderding explained
the functioning of the AIDS Unit
at San Francisco General Hospital and its wholistic approach to
caring for the AIDS patient in a
context of community cooperation. He spoke highly of the
cooperation the hospital gets
from the gay community and of
Shanti House, a gay operated
support service for AIDS
patients.
Unlike some of the east coast
doctors, Volberding referred to
gay patients as gays rather than
as homosexuals. Most of the
speakers at the symposium also
used the word "gay."
"In a time when the medical
profession was becoming more
and more specialized, AIDS has
forced us to become cross-
disciplinary. The spectrum of infections the AIDS patients come
down with force this broadening
of disciplines. Specialized treatment simply won't work with
AIDS," Volberding explained.
San Francisco General Hospital is the only hospital in the
country with a special AIDS unit.
Not Spreading Disease
Perhaps the most controversial part of the symposium was
the material related to dangers of
spreading the disease. Experts
from San Francisco defended the
right of surgeons with pre-AIDS
to work in operating rooms. This
clearly chagrined many in the
audience.
The tone of the suggestions at
the AIDS symposium for sexual
behavior was clearly that of
heterosexuals talking among
themselves about gay men. The
advice was rather smuggly,
"Don't do it with high risk people." (Not very consoling to this
high risk reporter.) Condoms
were suggested with the caveat
that they are not always suc-
Dr. Paul Volderding of San Francisco
General Hospital praised gay community response to the AIDS crisis.
cessful. No further explanation
was offered.
Questions and comments
from the audience indicated that
medical professionals are having
a harder time dealing with large
groups of patients who have
* AIDS through intravenous drug
use than with their gay patients.
The socialization of the gays
seems to be more acceptable to
the medical professionals. One
doctor complained that the gay
community was not being very
helpful with theintravenous drug
using patients.
Toilet precautions for
hospitals and gay
restrooms?
Dr. Don Armstrong of Sloan-
Kettering Hospitals in New York
City proposed during the symposium that his hospital is using
"enteric precautions" with AIDS
patients. This means that the
patients' urine and bowel excretions are treated as possibly
lethal, like the blood of AIDS
patients is.
According to Dr. Rhame, a
local expert on infectious disease
control, Sloan-Kettering is the
(continued on page 13)
Politicians cut $100,000 asked
for the Minnesota AIDS Project
The Legislative Advisory
Commission of the State of Minnesota which appropriates emergency funds nearly halved a request for emergency funding to
prevent AIDS presented by the
Health Department October 3.
The original Health Department request was for $510,000.
Commission member Jay Kied-
rowski cut that back to $397,000
before he presented the request
to the assembled commission.
Resistance to the allocation came
from both DFL Senator Gerald
Willet of Park Rapids and IR
Respresentative William Schrei-
ber of Brooklyn Park.
Schreiber particularly objected
to the $100,000 ear-marked for
the Minnesota AIDS Project
which has been trying to provide
support services for AIDS patients and to educate gay and
bisexual men to the urgency ot
safer sex practices as a way of
stemming the spread of AIDS.
The commission buckled into
those concerns and deleted the
$100,000 for the Minnesota
AIDS Project then appropriated
just over $297,000 for other
aspects of a program to prevent
AIDS spread that are controlled
by the straight community.
The same commission voted
to pay one attorney $ 112,000 for
an investiqation.